Greatest World Cup Upsets

Lay

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Yes. This beats Senegal v France. Senegal had players playing in France at the time. This is literally all Saudi Arabian league players.
 

Red the Bear

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This is definitely up there but south Koreans run is simply unrivaled.

Historically speaking the Uruguay win back in 1950 must have been something.
 

Mike Smalling

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Germany 7 - 1 Brazil was a shocker. It's in a different category than a small football nation beating one of the favorites, but it was still absolute astounding to watch.
 

Lecland07

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Japan v Germany - I know Germany had an old side, but that wasn't really expected.

Maybe a repeat this time.
 

RedRonaldo

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This one has to be among the top. Argentina was among top 2 or 3 favorites in this tournament, and they are also on the way to break the record of most undefeated run.
 

Rood

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Saudi Arabia beating Argentina. The greatest upset?
The only other contenders in recent times are

Cameroon Argentina

Sénégal France


I'd probably go for Cameroon Argentina but only just over this one
 
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footballbite

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Saudi Arabia (mostly government owned Al-Hilal) and Newcastle overperforming - is anyone going to question if their rulers have discovered some kind of secret sauce for its players?
 

MrMarcello

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The only other contenders in recent times are

Cameroon Argentina

Sénégal France


I'd probably go for Cameroon Argentina
Could add USA over Portugal in 2002 to the list considering how many fancied Portugal to go a long ways and the US had the 1998 three group defeats and one win in like fifty years Cup history going for them.
 

FrankFoot

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Saudia Arabia win over Argentina is definitely bigger than Senegal win over France, considering what happened in the match, not just the result.

Saudia Arabia deserved the win, Senegal kinda fluked the win over France, France was the better team in that match, missed some juicy chances before Senegal scored in a counter attack, which was their only shot on goal btw.

Saudi victory > Senegal victory
 
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stefan92

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Germany 7 - 1 Brazil was a shocker. It's in a different category than a small football nation beating one of the favorites, but it was still absolute astounding to watch.
True... the only match I watched when we all didn't celebrate the goals but were shaking heads instead. Just shouldn't have happened that way.
 

Red Star One

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Italy - Ireland 0-1 in 94 perhaps?
South Korea beating Italy in quarterfinals (if I recall correctly, perhaps it was R16) was also a shock
 

Rood

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Could add USA over Portugal in 2002 to the list considering how many fancied Portugal to go a long ways and the US had the 1998 three group defeats and one win in like fifty years Cup history going for them.
Worthy of mention but wouldn't put it on the level of either the Cameroon or Saudi wins over Argies

Some of those USA players were known

I doubt many (anyone?) could have named even one players from that Cameroon team or this Saudi team before the tournament started
 

Abdullah7

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We were the better team unlike Senegalese. We deserved the win. They underestimated us before the game but we showed the whole world what football is. Your history dosen't mean anything on the field. It's 11 V 11 after all.

I'm so proud of my Saudi brothers for proven me right.

Lets go

Alhumdlialllah
 

do.ob

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I thought it was Japan. Didn't exactly do thorough research into my memory.
I genuinely don't know what game you're talking about.

From mentioning Japan I assume one team was Asian.
From mentioning Germany I assume one team was European.

I assumed it was Germany vs South Korea, but neither was it a battering, nor did Germany equalize, or in fact score at all. So it can't have been that. Maybe you meant Saudi Arabia vs Argentina?
 

Stack

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We were the better team unlike Senegalese. We deserved the win. They underestimated us before the game but we showed the whole world what football is. Your history dosen't mean anything on the field. It's 11 V 11 after all.

I'm so proud of my Saudi brothers for proven me right.

Lets go

Alhumdlialllah
Would love to see you win the group
 

fergosaurus

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We were the better team unlike Senegalese. We deserved the win. They underestimated us before the game but we showed the whole world what football is. Your history dosen't mean janything on the field. It's 11 V 11 after all.

I'm so proud of my Saudi brothers for proven me right.

Lets go

Alhumdlialllah
:lol:

Fair play. You'll be high on adrenaline for quite some time after that win and rightly so.
 

Dansk

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While it's not an underdog triumph story, nothing will top Germany beating Brazil 7-1, in Brazil. Saudi Arabia did quite well, but any big team will occasionally lose to minnows by a goal. It happens to every big club at least once a season, and would as well for national sides if they played as many games as clubs do. Annihilating the host nation and tournament favorites 7-1 in a knockout game is something else entirely. It's the kind of thing that happens once in a lifetime. We see results like today's Argentina slip-up at every single tournament. It's nothing unique.
 

Niall

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Italy - Ireland 0-1 in 94 perhaps?
Nah we had a decent team with international tournament pedigree going back to Euro 88 and Italian 90.

A surprise (and fecking glorious) result but not a massive upset like today’s result.
 

Red Star One

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While it's not an underdog triumph story, nothing will top Germany beating Brazil 7-1, in Brazil. Saudi Arabia did quite well, but any big team will occasionally lose to minnows by a goal. It happens to every big club at least once a season, and would as well for national sides if they played as many games as clubs do. Annihilating the host nation and tournament favorites 7-1 in a knockout game is something else entirely. It's the kind of thing that happens once in a lifetime. We see results like today's Argentina - Saudi Arabia at every single tournament. It's nothing unique.
I agree that 7-1 was the most surprising and the most unexpected result ever at the World Cup - especially considered it was in Brazil, a semi final, and Brazilians were not really so bad. Yet again, upsets like Saudis don't really happen every single tournament, though I give you that since it's only the first game it doesn't have the same weight as other shocking results - might as well mean nothing in a greater scheme of things.
 

Rektsanwalt

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Germany 3 : 2 Hungary was the biggest upset imo, as they got smashed 8:3 in group phase, it was still struggling post war Germany against the huge favorite Hungary.
Germany 7 : 1 Brazil was a freak result, but it doesn't come across as a true upset in the sense I understand the word, especially if it's used in the current context of Argentina vs. Saudi Arabia.
 

Pronewbie

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Germany 3 : 2 Hungary was the biggest upset imo, as they got smashed 8:3 in group phase, it was still struggling post war Germany against the huge favorite Hungary.
Germany 7 : 1 Brazil was a freak result, but it doesn't come across as a true upset in the sense I understand the word, especially if it's used in the current context of Argentina vs. Saudi Arabia.
Yeah I'd classify that as a shock, not an upset.
 

V.O.

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Italy - Ireland 0-1 in 94 perhaps?
South Korea beating Italy in quarterfinals (if I recall correctly, perhaps it was R16) was also a shock
Big result, but a team with Keane, Irwin, McGrath etc beating anybody can't be as big an upset as today's.